Developing a consistent three-point shooter or two isn’t going to fix all that ails the Toronto Raptors but it will at least get their offence back up to speed.

The chances of that happening at some point over the next 10 games are slim to none, but we’ve already been talking about 2013-14

Raps for some time.

If there is to be growth in that area, in all likelihood that growth is going to have to come from within with little to no wiggle room under the cap and a dearth of trade commodities unless someone is expecting Bryan Colangelo or whoever is steering the ship to somehow turn Andrea Bargnani into a valuable trade chip.

Accepting that to be the case, the roster as constructed does at least provide a few options assuming hard work isn’t a deal breaker.

DeMar DeRozan is one of those options and while his three-point numbers this season — he’s shooting 24.5% from three in limited attempts — don’t yet put him in the class of consistent long-bomber, DeRozan did use an off-season from May through September last year to take his rim-attacking abilities to new levels.

He see’s no reason a similar approach this summer to honing a more consistent three-point shot can’t be just as successful.

A year ago it was a combination of building up his body to withstand and absorb contact and then throwing his body quite literally at a cousin of his who was more than willing to play the role of punishing defender.

The goal was to make him a more consistent rim attacker and by extension earn more attempts from the charity stripe. It also bought him a little space where he could get off another improved part of his game, his mid-range jumper.

This summer DeRozan wants to make improving his three-point shooting one of his priorities.

“It’s one of my high priorities because that’s what the game has come to now,” DeRozan said Saturday following a workout at the McDonough Memorial Gymnasium on the Georgetown campus. “Once I can do everything from posting up to go out and shoot three’s then I’ll feel no one can guard me.”

DeRozan said the success he has seen from last summer’s work has only motivated him to turn it up another notch.

“As hard as I worked last summer I want to work ten times harder this summer to better every part of my game. Just tighten everything up,” he said.

DeRozan said he’ll decide on a workout partner when he gets back to L.A. and sees who is available but it will be someone who he is familiar with and who he knows will push him.

“It’s going to be something interesting,” he said. “That’s why I used my cousin last year. I knew he was going to challenge me to the full extent. That’s what made it more fun and interesting so I’ll figure something out to keep it like that.”

DeRozan alone firing three’s with some consistency will not be enough though and head coach Dwane Casey knows it. He would also like to see Terrence Ross come back with a more consistent attack from behind the arc and Rudy Gay as well.

For Casey the threat of a three-point game would be enough to serve his purposes.

“We have to spread the floor,” Casey said. “We need to develop it to where when opponent’s are game-planning for us they know ‘Hey, I’ve got to get out there and guard so-and-so. We have to make sure they’re out there and not cheating off them and packing the paint so DeMar or Rudy don’t have anywhere to go (when they attack the rim).”

Gay and DeRozan can help their own cause with some hard work in that regard but so too can a bunch of their teammates.

“That’s something that is going to be a challenge to each of our guys whether it’s Terrence Ross developing his three point shot, or Alan Anderson or John Lucas or any of our guys who are three-point shooters,” Casey said. “ Even Landry (Fields) . Landry was a 39% three-point shooter in New York. So there’s a lot of guys who can develop internally and get their shot to where it’s consistent.”

As a team the Raptors have shot the three at a 34% success rate this year but those numbers include the since departed Jose Calderon who happens to be leading the league in three-point shooting.

To improve they are going to need someone to step up and offset Calderon’s loss and then some.

Casey says it’s simply a matter of putting in the work as a young Rashard Lewis did when those two were together in Seattle.

“He wasn’t a three-point shooter in his second or third year but we worked on it every day in the summertime,” Casey said. “He got up thousands of shots to where he became a three-point shooter and he wound up getting a max contract in Orlando. So it can be done. I know hard work and I look at what our coaches did with Ed Davis last summer with his jump shot so it can be done.”

Raptors need more threes

DeRozan might be the best bet long-term

Developing a consistent three-point shooter or two isn’t going to fix all that ails the Toronto Raptors but it will at least get their offence back up to speed.

The chances of that happening at some point over the next 10 games are slim to none, but we’ve already been talking about 2013-14

Raps for some time.

If there is to be growth in that area, in all likelihood that growth is going to have to come from within with little to no wiggle room under the cap and a dearth of trade commodities unless someone is expecting Bryan Colangelo or whoever is steering the ship to somehow turn Andrea Bargnani into a valuable trade chip.

Accepting that to be the case, the roster as constructed does at least provide a few options assuming hard work isn’t a deal breaker.